The second day of the International Swimming League’s (ISL) double-header saw 25 British athletes in action as Freya Anderson and Adam Peaty topped and tailed the Match 8 schedule with race victories for London Roar.
With her team looking to make up the deficit from day one, Freya Anderson got London Roar off to the perfect start in the women’s 100m Freestyle, only to follow it up within the hour with a British short course record in the women’s 200m Freestyle for her second victory of the session.
The former Ellesmere College Titans 200m Freestyle performance was reminiscent of her previous British record marker, set in winning gold at the European Short Course Championships just under 12 months ago in Glasgow, displaying her long stroke and building speed to finish the race fastest.
A third triumph shortly followed with the help of Duncan Scott and Anna Hopkin in the mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay, as the Dave McNulty trained athlete again showed her back end race speed to overhaul her opponents down the closing stretch.
Duncan Scott also individually added a boost to the Roar’s tally with a solid third placed swim in the men’s 200m Freestyle ahead of teammate James Guy in fifth.
Meanwhile you might forgive Adam Peaty for not remembering it was Guy Fawkes Night yesterday given he’s in the ISL’s bubble in Budapest, but come the final event of the evening he was producing his own fireworks in the men’s Breaststroke Skins. Tokyo Frog Kings’ Yasuhiro Koseki had pipped Peaty earlier in the men’s 100m Breaststroke, but over three rounds of 50m the Olympic and World Champion had the measure of his rival to scoop 33 points in a battle that will have kept viewers on the edge of their seat.
London Roar were not the only team with British success however and Joe Litchfield and Abbie Wood were once again in fine form for the New York Breakers.
Litchfield in fact produced a lifetime best in the men’s 50m Butterfly to claim second place, backing up an earlier fifth in the men’s 100m Individual Medley, whilst Wood took second in the women’s 400m Individual Medley to further her reputation as a force in the discipline, ahead of Aimee Willmott (London Roar) in fifth. Additionally Mark Szaranek, the sole Brit on the Cali Condors roster, improved on his result from earlier matches with fourth place in the 400m Individual Medley.
Match 7 concluded in earlier in the day with the highlight of the British showing produced by Jay Lelliot and his third placed performance for Toronto Titans in the men’s 200m Butterfly.
Georgia Davies contested the women’s 100m Backstroke, adding to the ever increasing Energy Standard points register with fifth, whilst a small flurry of Brits in action came in the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle as Ben Proud and Lucy Hope combined forces for Energy Standard to claim a further fifth, while Isabella Hindley played her part for an Iron quartet that was next to the wall.
At the end of both matches Energy Standard and Cali Condors were victors in their respective contests. With a few days break, the series resumes on Monday for a further double header ahead of next weekend semi-finals.
A full list of results can be found on the https://isl.global/ website, along with details of the remaining scheduled fixtures and previous match footage.